Best New Songs (June 26, 2025)
Don't miss out on these great new tracks.
Photo of crushed by Ben Rayner
At Paste Music, we’re listening to so many new tunes on any given day, we barely have any time to listen to each other. Nevertheless, every week we can swing it, we take stock of the previous seven days’ best new songs, delivering a weekly playlist of our favorites. Check out this week’s material, in alphabetical order. (You can check out an ongoing playlist of every best new songs pick of 2025 here.)
Animal Collective: “Love On the Big Screen”
Over the course of their 20-year career, Animal Collective has evolved their sound while never compromising the playful, anything-goes modus operandi that turned them into the most prominent figures of a new era in experimental psych-rock. We were due for new music from them after their critically-acclaimed 2023 LP, Isn’t It Now?, and while the new single isn’t attached to an album—as far as we know at the moment—it’s an excellent reminder of why Animal Collective’s staying power has never wavered. “Love On The Big Screen,” produced by Avery Tare and Adam McDaniel, founder of Drop of Sun Studios, is a trippy and lo-fi film. While Animal Collective often employ elaborate arrangements, this single thrives on its simplicity, drawing on the tinny aesthetics of Spirit They’re Gone and combining them with the more accessible melodies of Merriweather Post Pavilion. —Tatiana Tenreyro
Blood Orange ft. The Durutti Column, Eva Tolkin, Tariq Al-Sabir, Caroline Polachek, & Daniel Caesar: “The Field”
Before this week, Dev Hynes hadn’t released anything under his Blood Orange moniker in about three years—but he’s been anything but dormant, scoring a Broadway play called JOB, singing on “ALIEN LOVE CALL” with Turnstile, performing classical compositions alongside Arooj Aftab at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and producing songs on Lorde’s new album Virgin. For his first Blood Orange effort since 2022’s Four Songs EP, Hynes has called upon the likes of Tariq Al-Sabir, Eva Tolkin, Caroline Polachek, and Daniel Caesar. “The Field” pairs a lush, symphonic melody with choppy, lo-fi rhythms—weaving string tangents, vocal shifts, a sample of the Durutti Column’s “Sing to Me,” and piano injections into a textural wellspring. The track would have fit in nicely on a C86 cassette 40 years ago, and the singing—shared between Hynes, Polachek, and Caesar—blends together without so much as a hiccup. “The Field” proves that Blood Orange is one of the best curatorial projects still going and, despite their being this many cooks in the kitchen, every part of Hynes’ return sounds impossibly in-sync. —Matt Mitchell
crushed: “starburn”
One of my favorite songs from 2023 was crushed’s “waterlily,” which I genuinely believe is among the best pop efforts of the decade so far. That track came from extra life, the LA/Portland duo’s debut EP, and established producer/multi-instrumentalist Shaun Durkan (Weekend) and singer Bre Morell (Temple of Angels) as big-time contemporary translators of hazy, swirling dream-pop. The music they make is sexy, catchy, and undeniably sentimental. Their newest offering, “starburn,” is the dawn of a new movement. Arriving as the introduction to their debut full-length, no scope (out 9/26 via Ghostly International), “starburn” is a soft and sugary impact pairing alt-rock textures with trip-hop rhythms. The beats sway and saunter; Morell’s voice floats through colorful distinctions (“time swings us against the ropes with nowhere to fall back to”; “never thought that i’d be chased down hard by a lifetime, gravity has come to collect on mine”); and Durkan’s production (done in tandem with co-producer Jorge Elbrecht) plugs the cosmic flashes into a humid, poppy explosion. It’s going to be a good summer. —Matt Mitchell
Golden Apples: “Noonday Demon”
A healthy amount of anxiety can be helpful. As it beats hard in your chest, you might even mistake it for motivation. Still, an overabundance of the feeling has the opposite effect: It will paralyze you with its overwhelming authority. Golden Apples encapsulate this feeling in their latest song “Noonday Demon:” a commentary on anxiety’s ability to rob its victim of their identity. The song chugs to live like a flickering television, with gritty guitars beefing up the textured soundscape. The instrumentals overlap into a paranoid frenzy, leading to the narrator’s slow spiral down the long staircase of overthinking, and eventually, dissociation. Deep in the mind of this anxious warrior, the song bleeds into distorted waves of rhythmic drums and searing guitars. It’s a track that never quite resolves, but instead leaves you to flounder in its droning rhythms, the narrator drowning just beside you. —Camryn Teder
Greg Freeman: “Gallic Shrug”
Vermont’s Greg Freeman offers another glimpse of his highly anticipated sophomore LP Burnover on “Gallic Shrug,” a twangy rocker laced with bendy riffs and bright keys. Jangly, shapeshifting guitars blend with Kurt Vile-like poetic ramblings, delivered with a weary, deadpan charm. Where his debut, I Looked Out reveled in static and fuzz, “Gallic Shrug” is notably crisper. Freeman’s vocals take on a Thom Yorke-like register that suits the track’s melancholy (the “gallic shrug” being a gesture of weary indifference) and hints at the punk-rooted grit that runs through much of his catalog. Freeman leans sad, loose, and locked into a sound that’s equal parts refined and disillusioned. —Cassidy Sollazzo
I like pro wrestling, and “disgraced rock n roll band” Jobber likes pro wrestling, too. Their debut EP, Hell In a Cell, featured titles like “Mankind,” “No Holds Barred,” and “Heel Turn,” and their forthcoming debut album, Jobber To the Stars, retains the tradition with titles like “Summerslam,” “HHH,” “Raw Is War,” and “Clothesline From Hell.” But the Brooklyn band’s new song “Nightmare” finds its inspirations in the Rentals’ “Waiting” more than the squared circle, though it could be a subtle reference to Cody Rhodes’ decision to leave the WWE for the indie circuit and, eventually, AEW. Fastened into panned guitar textures and a sugary vortex of hooks, “Nightmare” is guitarist/vocalist Kate Meizner’s attempt to capture a “feeling of paralysis” that comes from quitting your job and moving someplace new. Her singing and playing unravels with the fuzzy power-pop of early Weezer, and “Nightmare” locks into a distorted, widescreen groove that’ll split your head right down the middle and heave you over the top rope. —Matt Mitchell
Life’s inevitable pains might force you to stumble, but certain anchors can keep you from falling flat on your face. Friends and family are great examples, but another is that sacred picture of home that lives forever in your head. This image might look different from person to person, whether it be the memory of grandma’s cottage or a sprawling midwest landscape, but it often brings about the same feelings of nostalgia, comfort, and peace. Mac DeMarco captures these emotions perfectly in his aptly-named new single “Home,” the first release from his upcoming album Guitar. His soft vocals bring a piercing tenderness to the track that’s reinforced by a simplistic interplay of strings and mid tempo drums. Made as a tribute to the fond memories from his Canadian childhood, the song makes me think back to my own memories of home too. Sometimes, music like this is the only medicine you need. —Camryn Teder
Clearly bit by a collaborative bug after years of making music without features, MAVI is again welcoming another artist into his world on “Potluck.” Where his previous single “Landgrab” (which we recently named 
This week, Tchotchke announced Playin’ Dumb—their Lemon Twigs-produced sophomore LP out September 5—and unveiled its second single, “Poor Girl,” a bouncy track channeling the doo-wap sass of ‘60s girl groups. Built on lush octave harmonies, playful lyrics, and a swinging Ronettes-style beat, “Poor Girl” follows three spoiled girls through their various crises. Each verse offers a quick vignette, delivered in a flat, detached tone that lets the sarcasm simmer just below the surface. There’s a Doe-Eyed Dolly who always wants more, a crying Crissy who got the wrong shade of blonde, and a Suzie Slicker with a stealing problem. The video is equally campy, blending stop-motion collage with synchronized dance routines and matching outfits. Guitarist Emily Tooraen is Crissy, ripping a solo with mascara running, foils in, and a cigarette dangling from her lips after receiving Monroe blonde instead of Bardot. Their punky, retro vibe brings a new bite to classic styles. —Cassidy Sollazzo
Out of all the singles from Wet Leg’s upcoming sophomore album, moisturizer, “davina mccall” is by far my favorite. While the other tracks have been grittier, like the electroclash-inspired “catch these fists” and the thrashing “CPR,” the latest teaser is a gentle, saccharine love song that instantly charms you. Rhian Teasdale evokes the Big Brother UK host’s iconic catchphrase, cooing, “I’ll be your Davina, I’m coming to get you.” If there were any worries that spending time stateside had Americanized Wet Leg like it has to Alex Turner and Adele, Teasdale destroys that notion with a tongue-in-cheek line: “Sipping on Ribena, fuck that Coca-Cola.” She even declares that she doesn’t mind England’s notoriously gloomy weather, as her “sweet baby angel” is “like the sun.” —Tatiana Tenreyro